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The U.S. House of Representatives welcomed 84 new members today, including the youngest new member, East Bay Democratic Rep. Eric Swalwell — who has already been interviewed on Capitol Hill about whether he’ll make a run for president.

Swalwell, in a broadcast interview Politico.com, laughed that one off — and said today that as part of the freshman class, he’s raring to provide some “new energy” to the House.

Swalwell represents California’s 15th Congressional District that includes Livermore, Danville and Newark. He repeated his call for a movement toward a more “mobile Congress,” which would marshall the same social media and technology used by American business, like video conferencing, to save money and allow House members to spend more time with constituents in the districts.

(Good luck with that: we hear the newbies aren’t even getting phones or websites until the end of the month.)

The former Alameda County prosecutor said one of the first bills he’s going to co-sponsor will be with Rep. Carolyn McCarthy, D-New York– a ban on high capacity magazines and assault weapons that comes in the wake of the Newtown massacre.
Asked by Politico if he would ever run for President, Swalwell said: “Fourteen months ago, no one thought I would ever run for Congress,” he laughed. “I’m just thrilled to be here….I’m going to do everything I can to serve the people I sent me here.”

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Capitol Confidential gathers the best coverage of New York politics and puts it all together. Each section - Capitol, The State Worker, New York on the Potomac, and Voices - represents a unique facet of the political scene. The Capitol section features coverage from the Times Union Capitol bureau. The State Worker is dedicated to state worker issues. New York on the Potomac offers news of interest to New Yorkers from Washington. And Voices features the best of everything else, pointing you to columnists and bloggers from across the Web.